


give a little ground

by LittleLynn



Series: Littlelynn's Christmas Gifts 2020 [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Clone Wars, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Qui-Gon Jinn Lives, non-graphic injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:55:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28360521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleLynn/pseuds/LittleLynn
Summary: “You could have been killed!” Qui-Gon snapped, reaching over Obi-Wan to press his hand over the wound and staunch the bleeding as he used the force to reach for bandages.
Relationships: Qui-Gon Jinn/Obi-Wan Kenobi
Series: Littlelynn's Christmas Gifts 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2076951
Comments: 1
Kudos: 67





	give a little ground

**Author's Note:**

  * For [acatbyanyothername](https://archiveofourown.org/users/acatbyanyothername/gifts).



> Merry Christmas Cat!

“You could have been killed!” Qui-Gon snapped, reaching over Obi-Wan to press his hand over the wound and staunch the bleeding as he used the force to reach for bandages.

“This is a war Qui-Gon, I can’t be kept safe all the time. I’m a  _ general _ ,” Obi-Wan replied, feeling tired with the argument they had had so many times, the only argument they ever did have.  The wind seemed to leave Qui-Gon’s sails at the exact same moment, and he slumped by the side of Obi-Wan’s cot in the medtent. 

“I know. I know. But still it kills me to see you in danger,” Qui-gon said, voice lowered to it’s usual soft timbre as he reached for a bandage and started patching Obi-Wan up with gentle hands. Qui-Gon hadn’t wanted to fight, but neither had he been willing to leave Obi-Wan alone in this, and somewhere along the way he had become more of a healer than the general he was titled. “Perhaps we could withdraw from this planet, it isn’t worth fighting over, I’m sure a ceasefire could be negotiated, if we were willing to give a little more ground.

“No Qui-Gon, you know that isn’t possible. And you would be doing it for the wrong reasons, would have us giving ground on any planet,” Obi-Wan replied, feeling his patience wear out, a sharp pain hissing through him as Qui-Gon pressed down on his wound again to pack it. He was a jedi, could deflect blaster shots as easily as breathing; but at a certain point there were too many to deflect, and it seemed as though all of the droids had been given the same target. 

“So instead I just have to sit back and watch? Let you walk into these battles  _ knowing _ that one day you aren’t going to walk out again? Watch you be treated like you’re expendable, watch the jedi be treated like soldiers? You don’t know what it’s like, Obi-Wan, to see you come back, bleeding and carried by your men,” Qui-Gon said, his fists balling as they unravelled another bandage. He looked tired, drawn, Obi-Wan wondered when the last time he had slept had been, but it had been a long time since rest for him too, and he couldn’t stop the irritation that built.

“Nothing like it was for me on Naboo,” he snapped. He wanted to take the words back instantly as Qui-Gon nearly recoiled, his hands pulling away from Obi-Wan, as if his touch was suddenly unwelcome, as if it wasn’t the only thing that kept Obi-Wan grounded in these dark days. 

Jedi didn’t get angry, but Obi-Wan had been angry on Naboo. Jedi shunned attachments, but Obi-Wan had been distraught on Naboo. 

Obi-Wan had cried at Qui-Gon’s bedside, convinced he would slip away to the force at any moment, begging his master to fight against it with anything, everything he had left. And then Qui-Gon had woken up, and Obi-Wan had slipped away into his knighthood. It had taken years for them to fix their relationship, they barely spoke of Naboo, as if they were both scared it would re-fracture something between them. 

“I am sorry. This is not like Naboo,” Obi-Wan sighed, releasing his frustrations and hurts to the force as best he could. “It has been a long day, and I am in a lot of pain. I did not mean to lash out. Least of all at you.”

“I think about it, more often than I should. More often than I should like anyone to know,” Qui-Gon said quietly, after a few moments of silence had passed between them. At first, Obi-Wan wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but then he saw the way Qui-Gon’s fingers were grazing over his sternum, over that old wound that by rights should have claimed his life. 

“So do I,” Obi-Wan replied, feeling the naked honesty of the moment beginning to stretch out between them. “In the middle of a war, and what my nightmares still feed me is you on Naboo. I suppose that makes me not a very good jedi.” Obi-Wan reached out and gently pulled Qui-Gon’s hand away from his chest, lacing their fingers together and letting them rest over his own chest instead. He knew it helped, when Qui-Gon could feel the steady cadence of his breathing. 

“You are the best of us,” Qui-Gon corrected, a strained smile on his lips. Out here on the front lines, his beard had grown unruly, Obi-Wan wondered if Qui-Gon would allow him to trim it for him, return it to his former glory. “I am not sure what I would do if...if something were to happen to you.”

“You are the strongest person I know, you would find a way,” Obi-Wan replied, the sounds outside the tent were loud, the clamour of a battle so recently ended, and yet somehow it seemed quiet in the tent, their own little world, muffling everything else from them both. Qui-Gon shook his head, fanning his fingers out over Obi-Wan’s chest, feeling for his heartbeat and making Obi-Wan’s breath come more shakily. 

He thought about Naboo more often than he should, and here was the reason why, unspoken between them, and far more real than anything Obi-Wan had ever said aloud. 

“Even the strongest person has a weakness, and you, Obi-Wan Kenobi, have always been mine. I nearly died on Naboo because I was scared of you getting hurt, I left you behind in the hope I could keep you from a threat. I hurt you myself, instead. But please, it is wrong of me to ask if from you, when I just admitted to doing the opposite, but please do not hurt me now.”

“Oh Qui-Gon Jinn,” Obi-Wan breathed, bringing a hand up to stroke through the messy tangles of Qui-Gon’s hair before moving his hand to press over his sternum, over the scar that nearly tore them apart. “I will always find my way back to you.”


End file.
